As a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt for many years I get why many organizations have a focus on Lean. But on the downside, because the projects tend to be smaller in nature, they tend not to be tracked, aggregated or leveraged; therefore, the net impact is not as noticeable as it should be.

One would think that with the levels of standardization and process efficiency we drive in Lean Six Sigma that there would be consensus on how much training a certified Black Belt should receive. Nothing could be further from the truth.

From safety to quality to productivity, there’s a trend in the way organizations have approached process-oriented movements. Starting as the responsibility of an individual or a group of people, to be successful, the movement inevitably shifts to shared accountability – it becomes the responsibility of everybody, every day.

Organizations retreat to their comfort zones when challenged with achieving higher levels of success. Frequently, this results in controlling the bottom line. Continuous improvement can be used to enable top-line growth.